Prateek Mathur, Michael Takla, Shivad Bhavsar and Rotimi Fadiya can afford to be unusually relaxed about the academic outcome of their final-year university project. After all, the young engineers have already had an endorsement of their work that’s arguably more impressive than any grade their tutors could give.

The electrical and biomedical engineering students from McMaster University, in Hamilton, Canada, have been named winners of the international James Dyson Award, the competition between university students and recent graduates from 23 countries. Their invention, a low-cost, handheld sensor that could allow faster diagnosis of skin cancers, has been praised by Sir James as a “very clever device with the potential to save lives around the world”.

The group have just returned to Canada having been flown…

Want to read more?

Subscribe now and get unlimited digital access on web and our smartphone and tablet apps, free for your first month.